At his introductory press conference on Wednesday, new Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez was optimistic about a quick turnaround following a disappointing 2023/24 season, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
“We will see results right away,” Fernandez said. “This industry is about getting results and getting better. So how much are you gonna get better? It’s how we believe the process is important.
“We know that there’s proper steps to take and we’ll see improvement right away. But the most important thing to me is to believe in team success over personal success.”
Fernandez added that he was enthusiastic about the young talent on Brooklyn’s roster, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
“The youth excites me,” Fernandez said. “When you have a young roster — and talented — that means you’re going to have those guys for a long time. So you can develop them, and then they can perform at their best, and they’re here with you. So that’s extremely exciting.”
Here’s more on the Nets:
- General manager Sean Marks said one of the reasons Fernandez stood out in the Nets’ head coaching search was his ability to coach players at various stages of their careers, according to Lewis. “Something that separates Jordi from a lot of the candidates (is), we found that he could look at a developmental roster, he could do various different pathways,” Marks said. “He’s coached stars before, he’s been the head director of development before so he’s worn many hats and there’s no roster that he’s not going to be able to get the respect of those guys.” Marks noted that as a big market, Brooklyn has an inherent ability to attract stars, which could accelerate the team’s timeline.
- Marks said the team expects Ben Simmons to be ready for training camp in the fall, as Adam Zagoria of NJ.com relays (subscription required). “There should be no reason not to,” Marks said. “I mean, the doctors and therapists and so forth have told us that he should be ready to go next season. Again, it’s going to be on Ben’s timeline. We’re going to have to see how he progresses through the summer.” Simmons was limited to 15 games in ’23/24 and underwent his second back surgery in two years last month.
- Another injured Net, Dariq Whitehead, should be ready to go for Summer League in a few months, Marks told reporters, including Lucas Kaplan of NetsDaily.com. The 2023 first-round pick had season-ending surgery for a stress reaction in his left shin back in January.
- They don’t currently control a draft pick in 2024, but Marks said the Nets could look to move into the draft if a player they like is available, Kaplan writes. Marks also suggested BJ Johnson, who is the team’s director of player evaluation, could be in line for a promotion after former front office executives Jeff Peterson and Ryan Gisriel left to join the Hornets. “I think some of our guys have done a terrific job,” Marks said, per Kaplan. “In terms of just simply drafting, I mean, you want to take BJ Johnson. BJ runs our draft and has done so for the last several years. So, there’ll be more pressure and more responsibility placed on several of the guys in-house here.”
So far not the most success Whitehead in the NBA books
ben simmons get bent.
No one believes any updates about Ben’s health. Unless he actually is playing on the court during a game assume he won’t play.
Ha! Well said, Ace!
The real question is will he finally be the coach to make Ben Simmons shoot the damn ball and actually try?
Simmons has to play Center at this point to have a chance in the NBA. You can’t be a Point Guard if you’re completely unable to shoot. Hell, you can’t play 1-4 at all if you cannot shoot. You can be various degrees of mid to bad, but you can’t just *not shoot*. Center is the only position where the lack of a jumper is fine these days. Even Giannis has a middy. And Simmons is nowhere near Giannis in terms of strength and speed, not even when he was fully healthy.
“He’s too small/not good enough at defense!” Then he needs to either figure out how to shoot, figure out how to improve enough to guard 5s consistently, or give up.
He already has given up. Playing, that is. He won’t ever give up not-playing as long as he can get paid for it and there is a team stupid enough to pay him. At some point, a “player” has to play or he is NOT a player, just a guaranteed contract that never should have been given out. It does no NBA team any good to have someone like Ben Simmons or Lonzo Ball on their roster. Just a waste of money.
I wonder if NBA teams get to write off salaries for players who don’t play, like a written-off asset in corporate accounting. That’s the only explanation for the Nets paying this not-player. Or they could just be stupid.
No amount of criticism can stop Ben Simmons from being the most overrated player in NBA history. Everything we can say about his career is still being too nice.